Two things that cost people more heat than the wood they buy. Both are easy to get right once somebody tells you, and nobody usually does.
Build the fire upside down
Most people build a fire bottom-up: paper, kindling, then logs on top. It works, eventually, and it smokes while it does.
Try it the other way round:
• Two or three large logs on the bottom, laid side by side with a small gap between them
• Two or three smaller logs across them, at right angles
• Six to eight kindling sticks on top, stacked Jenga-style so air can move through
• One firelighter tucked into the kindling, not underneath everything
Light the firelighter. The fire burns downward.
Why this works
The flue warms before the main load catches, so the draw is established early. That means far less of the smoke, stalling and door-opening you get lighting from underneath — and the glass stays clean.
Air is the control, not the wood
More fires are ruined by air management than by wood quality.
Air controls fully open until the fire is properly established and the flue is warm. That is usually ten to fifteen minutes, longer on a cold night or a cold chimney.
Closing it down too early is the single most common mistake. It causes:
• A fire that smoulders instead of burning
• Black glass within twenty minutes
• Tar and creosote in the flue, which is a chimney fire risk
• Visible smoke from your chimney, which annoys neighbours and in a smoke control area is a problem
Once it is roaring, bring the air back gradually until the flames are lively but not racing. You are looking for steady flame, not a furnace and not a sulk.
Refuelling without losing the room
• Open the air control before you open the door, and wait a few seconds. It stops the smoke rolling out at you
• Add fuel onto a bed of embers, not onto ash or a dying fire
• Two or three medium logs beat one enormous one. More surface area means it catches faster and burns cleaner
• Leave a small ash bed. An inch or so insulates the firebox and helps the next fire. Do not clear it out completely every time
• For overnight, use your densest wood — oak or our chunky logs — on a good bed of embers, and close the air down slowly once it has caught